Get to Know The Perfect Fit for Working Women

Team at The Perfect Fit Resale Boutique

Jane Guerino knows what it’s like to have nothing. In 2001, she was fresh out of prison with no idea what her next move would be and had little hope for making a new start stick. That’s when she was first introduced to Allentown’s The Perfect Fit for Working Women program. “They brought up my self-esteem to the point that it was no holds barred,” recalls Guerino. “I just wanted to keep going.”

And that’s exactly what she did. “The more they worked with me, the more professional I felt, the more important I felt,” she says. She slowly found her way in the working world, and, in 2013, Guerino opened Glory House, a transitional home for women in Downtown Allentown. A survivor of sex trafficking, Guerino says her goal is to help fellow survivors, women like her who have endured the unthinkable and emerged against all odds on the other side. “I’m living proof that they can do this,” she says. And it all started with an outfit.

Although The Perfect Fit, a program run by Allentown’s YWCA, was founded on the support of several community groups, it’s fair to say it exists today because of two tenacious women and one well-perused car trunk. Linda Robbins and Carole Rose recognized the need for a program to help women take that first, sometimes scary, step into the workforce. According to YWCA executive director Sarah Barrett, Rose organized volunteers and turned the idea for The Perfect Fit into reality while Robbins served the earliest clients with career clothing she kept in the trunk of her car.

Once The Perfect Fit was officially established, it found a brick-and-mortar home on Hamilton Street, giving Robbins free rein of her trunk once again. The parameters of the program were established early on: Women referred to The Perfect Fit would receive one interview outfit. Then, after landing the job, she would receive a week’s worth of professional clothing. “That way, she doesn’t have to spend her first paycheck on a new wardrobe,” says Barrett. Clients would learn how to put a tasteful, work-appropriate ensemble together.

Inside The Perfect Fit Resale Boutique

But what can a few articles of clothing really do for a woman, anyway? Plenty, says Barrett. “Imagine going on an interview, knowing how much you feel out of place. Imagine how that affects your interview.” The Perfect Fit aims to empower and inspire, starting with the image in the mirror. “Everything is confidence, preparedness and professionalism,” Barrett says.

The Perfect Fit’s clients run the gamut, from young college graduates without the financial means to afford a suitable wardrobe to women from rehab centers and shelters who have survived horrific abuse. Barrett, who started out as a volunteer for The Perfect Fit eight years ago, before working her way up to program manager, recalls one client who escaped an abusive husband with her four children in tow. “She took clothing for her kids but nothing for herself,” Barrett says. “She was wearing her husband’s black sweatpants, which were several sizes too big. She had been wearing them every day for a month. That was what she had.”

Barrett says the woman, like so many others who walk into The Perfect Fit for the first time, was initially intimidated by the process. But, Barrett says, “By the time they leave, they’re smiling, confident, ready to take on the new job.” The Perfect Fit gives its clients the opportunity to jot down their thoughts about their experience there before they go on their way. Barrett says the woman had this to say: “I had forgotten how to ask for what I want and what I need. Thank you for helping me find my voice.” The black sweatpants, Barrett noticed, were in the trash can.

Although a polished exterior can be transformative, Barrett says the team at The Perfect Fit realized it might not be enough to help all women grow and flourish in a new profession. Barrett recalls helping one client land an office job, only to find out that she was returning to her old job at a warehouse soon after. “She didn’t know how to act, what was expected of her,” Barrett explains. “We said, ‘Huh. What can we do about that?’” That was one of the aha moments behind the creation of a job-readiness program launched last year called Gateway to Success. “We teach what someone would need to start a job and grow a career,” Barrett says. That includes classes in everything from public speaking to networking to employer expectations. Classes are held at CareerLink on Union Boulevard in Allentown.

Inside The Perfect Fit Resale Boutique

Another recent addition to The Perfect Fit family is its very own boutique. Initially launched as a pop-up store in Downtown Allentown last September, the store is now a permanent fixture in the city’s shopping district. “We were only supposed to be here for a month,” says Heidi Lennick, former director of The Perfect Fit, and current manager of The Perfect Fit Resale Boutique. “People were begging us to stay, so we decided to stay.” And “boutique” is an accurate description of the kind of vibe that awaits shoppers at 515 Hamilton Street. “We have a lot of inventory that doesn’t fit our missions,” Lennick explains. She’s referring to the evening wear, high-end clothing and otherwise “too dressy for work” ensembles (plus corresponding shoes and accessories) that are among the donations that flow into The Perfect Fit. Those are the items that end up on the sale racks at the Resale Boutique. While it’s not unusual to peek inside the collar and catch a glimpse of a designer label, that doesn’t mean shoppers can expect to pay designer dollars. “The philosophy of the store is that no [matter] what your income, we want you to be able to shop here,” says Lennick. Bargain shoppers can sniff out good deals in the $5 and $10 sections, but even the boutique’s priciest pieces will hardly break the bank.

Since its initial inception as a part-time program 18 years ago, The Perfect Fit has gone on to serve more than 8,000 women and counting. Currently, its annual client roster hovers near the 650 mark; women who hail primarily from Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties are referred there by one of 75 different social service agencies in the region. All in all, The Perfect Fit distributes some 10,000 items of clothing every year. The program has surpassed the expectations of even its more ardent supporters. “It’s always been a dream,” says Lennick. “I thought we’d just have a box going around to different work places. I never thought we’d have a permanent store.”

But, as is the case with similar outreach missions, The Perfect Fit relies on donations of both time and apparel to keep the clothing racks stocked and the client base thriving. Both Lennick and Barrett say the generosity of the Lehigh Valley region has been instrumental in molding The Perfect Fit into what it is today. Contributions have poured in from women who are ready to part ways with some of the ensembles that have served them well in their careers. “Giving to The Perfect Fit is a purposeful act,” Barrett says. “Donors often save their very best clothing for our clients. For a donor, knowing that her power suit will help another woman land a job is to intimately understand the value and impact of her donation in a very personal and powerful way.” Items also come from local boutiques, clothing drives and corporations like Air Products and PPL. Monetary donations help purchase other workplace accoutrements that a woman might need, like uniforms and proper footwear.

Heidi Lennick, Manager at The Perfect Fit Resale Boutique

Sarah Barrett, Executive Director, YWCA Allentown

Dresses for sale at The Perfect Fit Resale Boutique

As for the “time” part of the donation equation, The Perfect Fit has that figured out, too. “Our volunteers are the most amazing team I’ve ever worked with,” Barrett says. Currently, that team is made up of some 50 active members. In fact, The Perfect Fit only has three employees on the payroll; everyone else is there on a volunteer basis, including Allentown’s Nancy Skok. A YWCA board member, Skok was inspired to start pitching in at the pop-up store turned retail boutique after learning what The Perfect Fit was all about. “I just thought, ‘Wow, what a great program,’” she says. Not only is she a dedicated volunteer, ringing up customers, sorting donations and arranging the boutique’s displays, she’s also a faithful shopper. “The clothes are beautiful. I hardly ever come out of there without spending $40 or $50,” she says with a laugh. “My husband jokes, ‘You’re spending more money than you make!’”

Skok says one of the finds she’s most proud of is a pair of Bernie Mev shoes she scooped up for $10. She credits her boss with keeping the inventory fresh and enticing. “Heidi really has an eye for the designer stuff,” says Skok. That discerning taste also extends to the jewelry and accessories in the Resale Boutique, which Skok also frequently sifts through. But, perhaps much to her husband’s good-natured chagrin, she can chalk up her perusing and purchasing to a necessary honing of her skills as a volunteer; after all, offering fashion advice to customers comes with the territory. “We tell them if it doesn’t look good,” Skok says. “We don’t want people to go home and then not like what they bought.”

That kind of self-confidence is the intended by-product of a successful experience with The Perfect Fit; it’s contagious among clients both present and past, like Jane Guerino. “They turned me into a fashionista!” she says with a laugh. Now, instead of trying to figure out how to convincingly look and act the part of a professional woman, she owns the role. She’s the one calling the shots at Glory House. “I do this all by myself,” she says. And yet, it’s not difficult for her to conjure up the memory of the woman she used to be, so her work continues. Guerino estimates she’s taken hundreds of women to The Perfect Fit for the same boost of morale that started her down a new path nearly two decades ago. She’s proud to be the one standing next to those women when they catch the first glimpse of the enhanced version of themselves in the mirror. “This is not my career. It’s my calling,” she says. “These are women who have been abused all their lives. They’ve never known real love. You wouldn’t believe the face they make. They beam.”